Use our Premium Rate Service to make money from SMS

Below we provide reponses to many of Frequently Asked Questions about our Premium Rate SMS service. In addition, the FAQs on our technical support pages contain more information on how best to use Premium Rate SMS.

How good is your Premium Rate service?

We have direct connections in the UK, which means your SMS messages are delivered within seconds and that we can secure market leading outpayments.

What Premium Rate tariffs are available for me to charge my users?

We offer immediate access to shared UK shortcodes with the following tariffs: 25p, 50p, £1, £1.50, and £5. We also offer a wide variety of international options. All prices include VAT.

What outpayment will I receive?

For information on the outpayment you can expect to receive, please refer to our outpayments table on our Premium Rate SMS prices page.

Can I run more than one Premium Rate SMS tariff on my Short Code?

No. A Short Code only supports one premium rate tariff. If you wish to run two different services with different tariffs, you will need two different Short Codes. See our Premium Rate SMS prices page for an overview of tariffs.

Which operators do you support?

We support all of the UK networks: Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile and 3.

Am I charged for sending Premium Rate SMS messages to my recipients?

No. If you are sending premium content messages to your recipients then you, as the service provider, are not charged for sending the messages.

When and how do I get paid?

Once the network operators (Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile, Orange, 3 and Virgin Mobile) have collected payment from their subscribers for using your service, then they will pass payments back to us. Once we have received and reconciled data from all the networks, we provide you with a self-bill VAT invoice. This takes approximately 30 days. Payment is made to you by electronic transfer 15 days later. See our Premium Rate SMS prices page to see the value of the outpayment you will receive on each tariff.

If I am running a Premium Rate SMS service where my users are sending messages to a short code, how do I receive the messages?

All the messages that you receive can be viewed in your online inbox.

If you are using our API you can also choose to receive the message in one of the following ways:

1. HTTP(S): to a nominated web page for your application to retrieve

2. Web Service: for your application to retrieve

How long does it take to set up a Premium Rate SMS service?

Once you have completed a connection agreement we can normally set up your service within 24 hours. Dedicated SMS shortcodes can take up to 6 weeks to set up. Click for an overview of the differences between shared and dedicated SMS shortcodes.

Who regulates Premium Rate SMS services?

All premium rate charged telecommunications services, including SMS, are regulated by PhonepayPlus. We recommend that all our customers familiarise themselves with their obligations, as detailed in the PhonepayPlus Code of Practice.

What level of support do I get?

Technical Support is provided free of charge either by emailing support@esendex.com or calling 0845 356 5759 during office hours - 9.00am-5.30pm Monday to Friday.